Of course the more basic reality is that Common is an uncommonly shallow man who really hasn’t thought through what he is saying at all. Let me quote extensively from an interview with the UK magazine Touch via Big Government:

TOUCH: This is a lyric from the track ‘Heat’ on your ‘Like Water For Chocolate’ album: “State senators, life twirls, most sell out – like a dread with a white girl.” Explain please.

COMMON: Rastafarianism is a black culture. When you see dreadlocked dudes with white girls that’s like they going against what the dreadlock’s purpose was. The dreadlock was a symbol of black love and the black people gettin’ to a certain level. In America we’ve got a lot of dreadlocked dudes and all you see them with is white girls. I don’t think there’s anything the matter with somebody loving somebody from another race but it’s almost like a stereotype that if you’ve got dreadlocks you go out with a white girl. I just feel like, as black men, we do have to be aware that, yo, every time we step out with some woman it’s setting an example for our daughters and it’s also representing something for our mothers. If you can’t really love your own, how can you really love others?

TOUCH: So you don’t agree with mixed race relationships?

COMMON: I disagree with them. It’s a lack of self-love. It’s a problem.

TOUCH: Have you ever dated outside your race?

COMMON: Nah, not dated [giggles].

TOUCH: Have you slept with anybody outside your race?

COMMON: Yeah, I definitely have.

TOUCH: So sleeping with someone outside your race is OK but dating isn’t?

COMMON: People got their choice. I’m not telling them how to live their lives. I just tell them what I think about and what I feel about certain situations. Dealing with having sex with a white girl is something I have encountered and I’m not acting like white girls and other races are not people. We all people: children of God. But our race has been damaged. Sometimes to get back up to the level of respect and love, you’ve gotta stick with your own for a minute and build a certain amount of strength and community within yours so that other people can respect and honour your traditions.

TOUCH: How do you feel about a black person dating a mixed race person of black and white parentage?

COMMON: Ah man, if you’ve got one black parent and one white parent, then the majority of the time you considered black. People don’t look at Tiger Woods and see he’s mixed. They say he’s a black golfer, even if he say he’s something else. Look, I ain’t here to judge people’s relationships. I’m more about, “Hey black people, I see you out there talking about how you a Rastafarian, but you only wanna date white women”. Is that what Rastafarianism is based on?

TOUCH: Rastafarianism has different houses with different views. Though Rastafarianism is about celebrating who you are and where you’re from, isn’t it also about loving people regardless of creed or colour?

COMMON: I don’t know all the bases of Rastafarianism, but I know that it stems from Africa and Ethiopia and really came into fruition in Jamaica during the time that the blacks were being oppressed.

So let’s break it down, shall we? He opposes dating outside of his race, but not sex. Big Government’s John Nolte puts it this way: “He not only opposes the mixing of the races, he sees women outside his race as nothing more than objects of personal sexual gratification.” But respectfully, I think he’s imagining way too much logic in Common’s views. As you can see from the article, he thinks somehow being willing to only have sex with a person of another race affirms that he believes that “[w]e [are] all people: children of God.” So in his screwed up reasoning being willing to have sex with a person of another color affirms their basic humanity. Hey, Common, you know what would really affirm their humanity? If you actually showed interest in them for more than just sex, but got to know them through a series of interactions known as dating. Just a thought.

And he says it is all about “self-love.” Certainly self-hate is a bad thing. Black women should not feel that they are automatically ugly because they are black as they have in the past and maybe some even feel today. I won’t say “black is beautiful” because that expresses a racial preference. But I will say black is equally beautiful, as is yellow, white, red and so on.

(Green isn't bad, either.)

But again, if he thinks that dating black women exclusively is about affirming that black is beautiful, then doesn’t sex outside of his race undermine that?

Further, he says “I’m not telling them how to live their lives” but isn’t that what this entire discussion is about? Common sitting in judgment about how others live their lives? And then of course the interviewer challenges him further, by bringing up the biracial argument, he basically goes with the “one drop rule.” Which at least means that while he objects to Barack Obama’s existence, once his existence is conceded, he is just fine with Barry marrying Michele. So he isn’t likely to call the First Lady a sell out, a positive sign. And then he goes on to preach about what Rastafarianism is about, and then when challenged, admits that he doesn’t really know much about the subject.

And then there is the uncomfortable fact that he appeared at a racist church talking about “building a nation”:

And really, seriously, no one who has supported that racist church should be in the White House.

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Full disclosure: As most regulars know I am married to a woman of a different race (she is a mostly-Asian-descended mutt, and I am a European-descended mutt). You might say that means I am biased and thus take Common’s comments personally. And maybe I am–so what of it?

As the magazine interview revealed, far from being a nuanced street-poet-artiste, it seems that common is, well, just that.

This is not about generational gaps; about, “musicians have always done these kind of things”; discounting the fact that “rap” is not really music anyway. Indeed, far from it.

He’s a boorish oaf, that’s celebrated in the same way, and for the same reasons, that many other no-talent types are. Because, put simply, there are elements among the multi-culti-fetishist-cult that believe his type must be celebrated simply because they are a memeber of a preferred victim-hood minority group.

It’s the same mentality that brings you the, “everyone who tries get’s a trophy”, kind of thing; the archetypal bigotry of low expectations that is transforming our society from a vibrant equality-of-opportunity meritocracy to an equality-of-outcome mediocracy…

And that equality of outcome will be the same as it ultimately is in all statist-socialist societies; we will all be equally miserable.

I’d be happy if the executive branch of the fed govt would get out of the ceremony, celebration, entertainment, and fete business altogether. Dump the fancy chefs, the expensive dinner parties, the concerts, the awards ceremonies, etc, etc. Not just BHO, but every administration.

Time and again our pols cozy up to artists “for arts’ sake,” and time and again they are embarassed by the poor quality or contentious politics of the “art.” This has been going on for decades at least; it probably didn’t start with Diego Rivera.

You should see the crap art that my Rust Belt burg has wasted money on. Every art huckster in the world knows they can come here to peddle their junk to our local pols and boosters.

All due respect, am pretty sure that if this blog posted every “silly” thing ever said by any celebrities feted by anyone, it would look like Perez what’s his name’s site.

But IMO we’re not talking about “silly” things. Not familiar w/ Kid Rock but if he said racist things like, I don’t think interracial dating is right because one race has been “damaged” (Common’s word) by it, or if he advocated killing police officers then liberals would loudly (and rightly) object to having him invited to the White House.

that is an excellent point, carlitos. I was imagining a melanin deprived artist saying the same as Common, in a broader context, no as it relates to a WHite House visit. Just the reaction in general, more or less noting how the standards are not at all consistent.

Should have added: IMO conservatives would object to it too, BTW. Recent political history, I think, has shown that conservatives are very willing to publicly disagree w/ others where political matters are involved, but liberals, statistically much less so.

Someone pointed out how Chris rocks ‘little sitcom’ made some remark about Bush being a liar, despite
the fact that he wasn’t in office, except as VP
in the time that he recalls his youth, ‘Common’ who is very aptly named, poisons the minds and hearts of our youth, as readily as Awlaki does, in a different context. and Obama is honoring him, just
as he did Al Sharpton not so long ago.

i think it is sort of like the queen knighting rock stars. there was one story where she meets eric clapton, keith richards and like 5 other giants of rock and roll and the blues, and she is saying things like, “oh and you play guitar mr. Clapton?” What’s the point of hommage if they are clueless on the subject. and keith is a great guitarist, but i would hardly call him “noble.” i don’t believe in inhereted nobility, obviously, but i do believe you can grant to yourself a sense of nobility of spirit.

For whatever reason, noyk’s words made me think of Sowing the Seeds of Love, a truly epic craptacular song by Tears for Fears. I would link, but then that abomination of a song will egt stuck in your head, and you will blame me. Sowing the seeds of love, the seeds of love, sowing seeds ..

I guess my real reaction is that it’s interesting that racists and nuts still attempt to give themselves just a little bit of cover. For example, the comment that white people are still people. To a certain kind of shill, that’s all it takes to show that this is just good old honesty from someone being ‘real’ about black culture.

Obviously, it’s actually insulting to be granted personhood from a scumbag like this guy. I know there will always be people like this who think they are being more honest than the rest of us to talk about their fear of mixing races (also quite an insulting presumption). I guess I expected Obama to speak out against this much more than he has. Instead, it’s clear he happily benefits from the politics of bigotry. Was he cynical when attending Rev Wright’s church? Not entirely.

“not only do i agree on that point, but so does Chief Justice Roberts.”

Ha! He describes Bruce Springsteen’s tour as “patriotic.” Perhaps the lesson is that we should be a bit more embracing of art, rather than just taking on its superficial qualities or sloganeering (“fantasizes about killing Republican Presidents”).

Brilliant timing inviting thia jerk the same week as the annual law Enforcement remembrenace week in DC. Common Street Trash wrote love song to cop killer Joann Chesimard-still a fugitive from US justice living in Cuba–

I respectfully disagree with your assessment.
Common doesn’t think that obama shouldn’t have been born. He merely thinks that obama’s dad was a playa who nailed a bunch of dumb white chicks (among them, obama’s mom) while he was waiting for US citizenship.
This is a rather poor view of Ann Dunham but Common clearly believes that she deserves it for not having the good sense of being born black.

I’ve never seen such a hysterical shrieking ninny on the internet as Kman is. He’s so bad that he can’t even link his own blog in his comments here. He’s gone too far freaking out so many times, usually about blog posts or links he never bothered to read (obviously the case this time too, given his snotty dismissal).

Aaron, I doubt Kman even realized that he was defending bigotry against interracial relationships.

He’s have to read your post. I’d be crazy to assume he did.

Anyway, I understand why you’re offended, but these lowlife bigots will always be with us. I’m only disappointed to see the leader of the free world cater to it for no apparent reason. At least save the catering to lowlifes for some nationally crucial negotiation or something. Bow for a reason, Obama.

right, i am just pretending to be offended by this idiot’s hatred of interacial relationships or his acceptance at the white house. is that your accusation?

I’m saying that when Bush invited Ozzy Osbourne to play at the White House, you (among others) could have found a dozen reasons why it would be inappropriate for him to be there, given his history of drugs, violence, and eating heads of bats.

It’s easy to gin up outrage over something somebody says or does, especially if you spin it waaaay out of proportion, as you do here. (Seriously, if it takes you several hundred words to spin this into “he hates interacial relationships”, then that probably doesn’t reflect his views accurately)

Kman’s “defend absolutely EVERYTHING that Obama does” act is starting (okay, it already was) to get old. Calling Aaron an outright liar — and referring to his use of a TRANSCRIPT, even questioning whether or not Aaron is quoting it ‘in-context’ is especially pathetic.